Browsing: PTSD

[HTML1] A wounded Army vet jailed for saying he felt like “tearing Washington, D.C. apart brick-by-brick” over his medical care says he is not a terrorist. Christopher Gillette’s classroom rant led to a 90-minute lock-down on the Texas Woman’s University. He was arrested later at a Dallas VA hospital where he went for treatment and charged with making terrorist threats. From behind bars, Gillette told WFAA-TV and KXAS-TV that he has had thoughts of overthrowing the government, but they have nothing to do with the school. “The First Amendment to the Constitution — I can say that,” he said. “I…

In the 1990s, ecstasy was was the euphoria-producing drug of the rave scene. Blissed-out kids with colored hair, platform shoes and Sesame Street backpacks danced to electronic music into the morning, twirling glow sticks, sucking on pacifiers and worshiping at the altar of “E.”* Could ecstasy, known by scientists as MDMA, be the savior of a new generation–this one in crew cuts, military boots and rucksacks? The nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies appears to be founded on the premise that drugs like MDMA and marijuana can assist psychotherapy in the treatment of PTSD.

Pfc. David “Smiley” Lawrence, the soldier accused of murdering a shackled Taliban commander, nodded off several times during a hearing that will determine if the Army puts him on trial. His attorney says the 20-year-old Fort Carson, Colo., GI is strung out on drugs to battle schizophrenia and isn’t mentally fit to stand trial. Lawrence’s platoon sergeant testified Lawrence announced he would, “do something in the next 20 minutes that you are too pussy to do.” “He said, ‘I killed him,'” Staff Sgt. Dominic Buscemi, testified. “I said, ‘Killed who?’ and he said, ‘The guy in the cell.'” [via The…

The day after Thanksgiving, we called Charles “C.J.” Whittington, the former soldier who’s gotten a lot of attention for an essay he published in his college newspaper about his “addiction to killing.” We’d interviewed him before, but we wanted to resolve a question about his service record and his medals. The essay contains some graphic language about killing someone with a knife and the slur “raghead.” His school, the Community College of Baltimore County, responded by ordering him off of campus and out of classes until he gets a clean psychological evaluation. Some readers said he didn’t sound like someone…

Pfc. David Lawrence, 20, faces a military hearing in Ft. Carson, Colo., in the shooting death of a senior Taliban commander being held prisoner in Afghanistan. Lawrence’s alleged shooting of Mullah Mohebullah in the head Oct. 17 while on guard duty at an Arghandab detention center has added fuel to diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Afghanistan. Lawrence’s parents say their son is delusional. His civilian lawyer said the Army may be rushing the case to appease Hamid Karzai: “We are going to an Article 32 for a kid who is hearing voices,” he said. [via Los Angeles Times] A…

The father of a 101st CAB staff sergeant found with a gunshot wound to the head is filled with questions about his son’s death, but Army CID released few details and about the case and declined to provide a time frame for more answers. David Senft, 27, was found dead in a vehicle on Kandahar Airfield on Nov. 15 in a “non-combat incident.” The father is baffled why his son would commit suicide; he had been treated after previous suicide attempts, but he was just married, was recently promoted and loved his five-year-old son. Senft, a crew member of Lt.…

Several soldiers from the 4/23 Battalion, who confessed to using steroids, estimated that more than half the unit of some 700 soldiers had sampled steroids, according to investigative documents obtained by The Seattle Times under the federal Freedom of Information Act. One soldier had a scheme for continuing steroid use in Afghanistan through the receipt of mail-order packages that would disguise the drugs in lotion packets. [via Seattle Times] Soldiers accused of breaking into a Colorado medical marijuana dispensary and then accidentally locking themselves inside told police they planned to destroy the marijuana — not smoke or sell it. [via…

[HTML1] Brutally honest and deeply disturbing, former infantryman Charles D. Whittington Jr.’s essay about his addiction to killing and war can charitably be called an anguished cry for help. The Baltimore Sun posted its interview with Whittington, 24, in which he reads the essay in a soft, still monotone at odds with the rage and pain evidently brimming inside of him. Whittington’s essay (pdf, p.12) has gotten him banned from the Community College of Baltimore County until he gets a psychological exam.

Keeping it real went wrong for a Fort Carson, Colo., civilian resident now charged with shooting workers at a Burger King on post and a Cricket in town during two robberies. Joshua Bodean Smith, 20, reportedly told the clerk at the Cricket, “I ain’t playin’,” before shooting him in the shoulder and emptying the cash register. He faces federal charges and up to 30 years in jail. The Army was holding Smith’s girlfriend, identified as Pfc. Bianca M. Soto, who federal authorities say acted as Smith’s getaway driver. [via Colorado Springs Gazette] A Colorado jury convicted former soldier Marcus Hightower,…

The mother of a private first class from Boise accused in the Stryker “rogue platoon” case said she blames the Army “for putting psychopaths in charge of the unit.” The soldier was due in court today. [via The Olympian of Olympia, Wash.] Three Fort Carson, Colo., soldiers in masks broke into a medical marijuana dispensary and locked themselves in. Colorado Springs cops surrounded the store — Rocky Road Remedies — let them out and arrested them. Surveillance video shows their frantic and comical efforts to escape. [via KMGH-TV] The trial of three people accused of selling weapons to a white…